Soo Catwoman – Part 2

So what happens when your main punk girl style icon doesn’t even want to be in your stupid film?? ….even though you have already written her part? Awkward…. You just have to get someone else I suppose…..

In Julien Temple’s 1980 film “The Great Rock and Roll Swindle”, there is indeed a Catwoman, but what you may not have realised is that it wasn’t yer actual Soo Catwoman, it was a Soo Catwoman look-e-likey-ish. Soo Catwoman was played in the film by a young actress called Judy Croll.

On her own website, Soo comments on those who have watched the film thinking it was her, and also on how she feels about such a young actress (Croll) being made to portray a very different kind of “Soo Catwoman”, and how that has impacted her in the years since the film was made:

“If you are someone who thinks the film was ‘cool’ then one can only hope you don’t have daughters, or that you watch it merely for the Sid clips. Considering Soo was 22 in 1976, it is a mystery as to why a 14 year old was asked to play her. Soo Catwoman has never been photographed naked, which means that the portrayal had nothing to do with her, or reality at all. This film has caused myself and my family a lot of grief over the years. Being mistaken for a moldable child who was used/abused has done nothing for Soo, so if you write a blog and mention her, please check that you are using the correct image and that it is actually of Soo Catwoman and not Judy masquerading as her in the Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle”.

And while young Judy was busy pretending to be Soo Catwoman, real life, actual, proper Soo Catwoman was branching out with a musical project of her own.

By 1980, Soo was releasing records with a band called The Invaders, she even appeared on the cover of their 7″ single “Magic Mirror” in a space-age disco helmet. The follow up single “Backstreet Romeo” featured Soo on lead vocals. Taken from the album “Test Card” (1980), Soo made both lyrical and vocal contributions to various tracks by The Invaders from the late 70’s into the early 80’s. Their sound was not as Punk as you might expect, by the early 80s music was becoming increasingly polished and synth based, and The Invaders were no exception and invited comparisons to both Blondie and The Tourists.

For more info, blogger postpunkmonk has a page dedicated to The Invaders HERE

Fast forward to 2010, and Soo features on an unexpected but splendidly growly version of the O’Jays hit “The Backstabbers”, on Derwood Andrews (Bob Andrews from Gen X) album of covers “Cover Yer Arse”, a version that also includes Rat Scabies on the drums.

Soo Catwoman’s punk rock image has been called “the face that launched a thousand t-shirts” and at just a thousand that’s probably a massive underestimate. Without doubt, Soo Catwoman was one of Punk’s most original and fearless style pioneers, sparking one of the era’s most enduring and iconic looks. It was a look that was sometimes copied outright, but a look who’s lasting legacy was to inspire a whole generation of younger girls to get out of their bedrooms, rip up their Jackie magazines and start thinking for themselves.

Soo Catwoman’s official website HERE